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Updated: May 1, 2026

A Novel Bioreactor for High Density Cultivation of Diverse Microbial Communities
Published on: December 25, 2015
Population dynamics of nitrifying bacteria for nitritation achieved in Johannesburg (JHB) process treating municipal
Wei Zeng1, Xinlong Bai1, Limin Zhang1
1Key Laboratory of Beijing for Water Environment Recovery, Department of Environmental Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China.
Abstract:
Population dynamic of nitrifying bacteria was investigated for nitrogen removal from municipal wastewater. Nitritation was established with nitrite accumulation ratios above 85%. Quantitative PCR indicated that Nitrospira was dominant nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) and Nitrobacter was few. During nitritation achieving, Nitrobacter was firstly eliminated, along with inhibition of Nitrospira bioactivities, then Nitrospira percentage declined and was finally washed out. Nitritation establishment depended on inhibiting and eliminating of NOB rather than ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) enriching. This is the first study where population dynamics of Nitrobacter and Nitrospira were investigated to reveal mechanism of nitritation in a continuous-flow process. Phylogenetic analysis of AOB indicated that Nitrosomonas-like cluster and Nitrosomonas oligotropha were dominant AOB, accounting for 81.6% of amoA gene clone library. Community structure of AOB was similar to that of complete nitrification system with long hydraulic retention time, but different from that of nitritation reactor with low DO concentration.
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